


Building It Slowly

by Jathis



Category: Welcome to Night Vale
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Family, Father-Son Relationship, Gen, Native American Character(s), Native Earl
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-15
Updated: 2015-11-15
Packaged: 2018-05-01 19:52:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 481
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5218718
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jathis/pseuds/Jathis
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Earl wants to be a family.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Building It Slowly

“Roger? Roger, where..?” He blinked when he spotted the boy sitting in the cabinet beneath the sink, hugging his knees to his chest. “Roger?” he asked, walking over to the boy. He had found the boy up in the cabinet a few weeks ago like this. He wondered if this was just something he was going to be finding every now and then, his son hiding somewhere else in the house for no discernible reason.

He crouched down to make eye contact with the boy, offering him a small smile and a wave of his hand. “You okay?” he asked.

Roger hesitated, shifting a little as he looked away. *Yes.*

“You want to come out?”

Roger shook his head.

“Why not? It can't be comfortable in there,” Earl pointed out.

Roger shrugged his shoulders. *I don't know,* he signed.

Earl thought for a moment and then sat down on the ground in front of the cabinet, sighing a little as he heard his knees softly pop a few times. “Is is okay if I sit with you?” he asked.

*I guess so,* Roger signed with a shrug of his shoulders. He watched as Earl smiled, leaning his back against a nearby stool. He hesitated a moment before starting to sign again. *I had a goat brain thrown at me at school today,* he confessed.

Earl frowned, narrowing his eyes at that. “The same kids?” he asked. He pursed his lips as Roger nodded his head. “I'll go to the school tomorrow and talk to someone about it. That's not appropriate. I'm sorry that people are doing that to you. School can be hard and children can be cruel but I won't let you suffer through it alone.”

*Thank you,* Roger signed.

Earl smiled, nodding his head at the boy. “No problem. You're my son, right?”

*Am I?* Roger asked. He looked at Earl as the other hesitated, unable to answer right away.

“You are,” Earl finally said. “You're my son and I love you,” he promised. He blinked in confusion when the boy crawled out of the cabinet, opening his mouth to ask him something when Roger hugged him around his neck. “Oh...”

“I get...confused,” the boy whispered, his voice hoarse from disuse. “Sometimes I forget...who you are. I forget why I'm here. Nobody knows where I came from. I don't... have a mother to see on Homecoming. I know things I shouldn't... and it scares me.”

Earl rubbed the boy's back, pushing him back a little to look into his eyes. “You're my son,” he promised him. “You're my son and I love you very much. I'll protect you and teach you as much as I can. Is that okay?”

Roger sniffed, wiping at his eyes before nodding his head, reverting back to using sign language once more. *Dad.*

Earl smiled and nodded, hugging Roger once again. “Son.”

 


End file.
